Non real time traffic system for a navigator

ABSTRACT

A system for improving the operation of a GPS based navigator. Statistical and/or time of day information is used to select the best route between a current location and a desired location. The statistical information may take into account anomalies, and a user can select the amount of risk they which take. The system can be updated with more updated information. In addition, the selection of the desired location can be carried out by downloading information from a PDA.

CROSS RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/455,866, filed Jun. 6, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,136 issued May10, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/682,200 filed Aug. 3, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,047 issued Aug. 5,2003.

BACKGROUND

Various systems, including but not limited to the Magellan 750(“NeverLost(™)”) device automatically track the user's whereabouts andinstructs the user on the best way to get from point A to point B. Forexample, systems such as this may find the user's current position usingsatellite positioning systems such as the GPS constellation array. Theuser may enter a desired location. The program includes map data whichincludes a time that it will take, on average, to traverse a givenstretch of roadway. This data may be acquired by simply dividing thespeed limit by the length of the roadway. The system carries out aprogram to determine a most efficient way for the user to get to hisdesired location.

This system may operate admirably, and almost always results in the usergetting to their desired location. However, the selection of routes doesnot take into account the real situation. For example, the user whoknows an area will often select a better route than the computer willselect.

SUMMARY

The present application teaches an improvement to existing navigatorsystems which enables improvements and new techniques in selection ofroutes.

In one aspect, the present application teaches use of statistical datain selecting the proper route.

In another aspect, the system may use real-time information.

An interface with the information stored in a PDA is disclosed.

Another aspect teaches a way in which the route may be calculated toallow the user to start in the proper direction.

Yet another aspect teaches a way of using the system to determine alocation in for the user to obtain some desired product or service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects will now be described in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the system;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of finding traffic information;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of route finding operations; and.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of finding points of interest.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A block diagram of the system is shown in FIG. 1. A GPS receiver 100 isshown connected to an appropriate GPS antenna 102 to track the locationof the installed device 99. This location may be in a vehicle, forexample. A processor 110 is connected to the GPS receiver and maycontrol the operation of the GPS receiver and also receive incominginformation therefrom. The processor is connected to a memory 130 whichis shown herein as a static memory. In current technology, this may be ahard drive, but could alternatively be flash memory or another kind ofread/write memory. The memory is connected to an update module 140. Asshown, the update module may have a connection to a network line 150which may be a telephone, an thernet connection, or any other kind ofconnection to any source of information. The update module may alsoinclude a connector 152 allowing connection of a portable memory shownas 153. The portable memory, for example, may be camera type memory,such as flash memory, S.D. memory, or a memory stick. The memory is usedfor updating information, as described herein.

A user interface 120 is connected to the processor, and providesinformation to a user, as well as accepting input from a user. The inputmay be provided from the user in a conventional way, such as on aminiaturized keyboard or trackwheel. An alternative data information isvia a PDA interface assembly shown as 122. This may enable a user toenter information about their desired route or destination into PDA 123.Downloading of such desired routes are already available on certain Websites such as HTTP:\\www.MapQuest.com.

Alternatively, the PDA often stores addresses indicating the addressesof the user's contacts. The address from the PDA may be also transferredto the PDA interface device 122. The PDA interface device may be forexample an infrared port, for those PDAs which have infrared capability.For example, on Palm operating system devices, the user of the PDA canselect the option to “beam address”. The Palm unit will then beam theaddress to the interface device 122 which receives and decode to thebeamed address, and uses that as the desired location. Alternatively,the interface device may be a connection to the serial, parallel or USBport on the PDA.

The user interface also includes a keyboard as described above and adisplay. Additional functions may be provided. One such function is theindicator 124, which may indicate, for example, the likelihood that thedevice is actually tracking the proper location of the installed device99. Many times, the GPS receiver has not adequately acquired sufficientdata to be sure that it knows its proper location. When that happens,the GPS receiver may return its best guess information, but might not bevery sure or of that information. Accordingly, the indicator 124 may bea bicolor LED which may be green to indicate that the GPS receiver ishighly confident in its current location. It may be red to indicate thatthe confidence level in the current location is low. Another indicatorat 126 is a speed limit warning. The map data stored in the staticmemory 130 often includes the road's speed limits. As part of thesynchronization via the GPS receiver, the system automatically acquiresthe speed of the vehicle. The indicator 126 may be a settable indicatorthat indicates when the user, for example, is going 10 mph above thespeed limit.

The static memory 130 stores information about maps and routes withinthose maps. In order to make a decision about the best route to take,the static memory often needs information about how long it will take toget from one point in the map to another. The routines of FIG. 2 may beused according to this embodiment to get this information. Certainexisting satellite systems, such as the etak system, provide trafficreports that indicate to user the current status of current traffic. Themain problem with this system, however, is that the traffic report iscurrent as of the time it is given, not when the user actually arrivesthere. Many users lose confidence in such traffic reports because by thetime they arrive at the scene, the traffic may be changed. In addition,the infrastructure necessary to provide such real-time information maybe extremely costly.

The present application teaches a system which may improve the abilityto find the best route, but does so using a statistical technique.According to the present system, information about real progress throughcertain roots is accumulated. This data is accumulated as a function oftime of day. The information is used to form statistical data. Thestatistical data may include, for example, the percent of anomalies. Oneexample is anomalies caused by special events. Roadways which pass closeto situses of events may often have high traffic at the time of theevent. By noting the number of times that anomalies occur, the “expectedvalue” of the time of a trip may be lowered.

A route may be selected based on different parameters. For example, theroute may be selected for the one which is most consistently clear.Anomalies may be taken into account when calculating the route, but theuser may choose to take a chance that any route will still be the best.All of this is at the user's discretion, but allows the system to havemore accurate data based on statistical analysis.

The date acquisition routine is shown in FIG. 2. The heart of the dataacquisition routine is 200 which acquires real data from real movements.This may be carried out via monitoring satellite photos, for example, tofind different movements of different vehicles. Since satellite photosare often taken at separated times, these movements may be used to findthe average time to traverse a given stretch of roadway. Anothertechnique, which is disclosed herein, is made possible by the fact thatthe unit 110 actually tracks users movements. Accordingly, the secondalternative is to monitor movements within the installed vehicle 99, andlater obtain information from many different users as part of the updateroutine.

In this contemplated that certain users will not want their movements tobe monitored, for example based on privacy concerns. This system willtherefore provide the user with the capability of making their movementsprivate. However, a certain advantage may be offered to those users whoallow data about to their movements to be uploaded as part of the updateroutine. Note that the data can be anonymous data, i.e. it can beuploaded without any indication of its origin. As an example of theadvantage provided to those users who allow the data to be uploaded,auser may receive a discount on updates if they allow their data to beuploaded as part of the process.

At 210, the real-time data is used to find the various information aboutthe different roadways. As a function of time of day, this system mayfind the fastest time, slowest time, average time, as well as higherorder statistics about these times. These higher order statistics mayinclude mean and standard deviation. Another parameter which may be usedincludes likelihood of anomalies: indicating a percentage of the timethat the actual time to traverse is significantly different then theaverage time to traverse. All of this information is accumulated into aform associated with the stretch of roadway and will be stored in thestatic memory 130. The storage of the data is shown occurring at 220.

This information may change over time, and therefore frequent updatesmay make the system more accurate. These updates may also includeadditional map information. The updates may be provided in any desiredform via the update module 140. The manufacturer or map issuer maycharge for those updates as described above. The actual operation of thesystem uses the flowchart shown in FIG. 3. At 300, the user is allowedto select between a number of different operations, including requestinga mapping to a location at 305. An alternative allows the user to lookfor “points of interest” which is described in the flowchart of FIG. 4.

After requesting a current location, the user is presented with a numberof options at 310. These may include conventional options such asshortest time, shortest distance, and least use of freeways. Inaddition, some enhanced options are shown as being provided. A newoption includes fastest usual, which will set the route based on thefastest route which would be usual over all times. Another new option istime of day fastest, which selects the fastest route for the currenttime of day. This may divide the time of day generally into morningrush, evening rush, afternoon, and non Roche. Alternatively, the slicesmay be the sliced thinner, e.g. in one hour increments. Another newoption is most reliable fastest, meaning the route that is most reliableto get one to the destination in the shortest time.

After selecting the option at 310, the system initially, at 315, selectsa swath 316 around the current location 312 and the destination 314.This area 316 may be the area within which the route will be selected.At 320, the system first routes a first portion of the route, whichbegins at 312, and moves the user in the proper direction towards thedestination. Users often do not want to wait while the system calculatesthe entire route from their current location to their destination. Suchcalculation may take minutes, and users will often not wait thoseminutes. This system therefore selects a relatively small part of theroute e.g. the route for the next five minutes. This portion isinitially calculated at 320, following by the system beginning theprocess of directing the user at 325. This may point the user in theright direction, while the remainder of the route is calculated at 330.After 330, the system continues the tracking and monitoring operation.This is generically shown as 335.

FIG. 4 shows the points of interest setting. In conventional GPS units,the points of interest setting enables the user to find items close tothem such as parks, restaurants, service stations. If the user is in anunfamiliar location, this may be very helpful. However, the deviceprovides no information about which of many places to select other thanname and distance/time to travel.

The present application recognizes that more frequent access usuallyindicates that the point of interest may be interesting. Accordingly, at400, a new setting is provided indicating the point of interest within aspecified type that is “most popular”. This may indicate a point ofinterest that is most popular within a five-minute drive or the like.Again, this is based on monitoring other users movements, and may beused as part of an update routine.

Another aspect recognizes that many people are driven by specials suchas coupons. In this embodiment, an option may provide coupons fromcertain points of interest. A coupon code may be provided by theprocessor based on information obtained during an update. For example,the coupon may be a six digit alphanumeric code that meets a specifiedchecksum and provides a specified amount of discount at the specifiedlocation. The coupon information obtained during the update may have anexpiration date, and may have a number of times that the coupon can beused.

Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above,other modifications are possible. All such modifications are intended tobe encompassed within the following claims.

1. A system, comprising: a memory, storing map information, and storinginformation indicative of updated actual times that were previouslymeasured to travel different sections of roadway as of a time of anupdate; a user interface, allowing entry of a destination fornavigation; and a processor, computing a path to said destination basedon said actual times stored in said memory.
 2. A system as in claim 1,further comprising an update part which wirelessly provides saidinformation indicative of actual times to said memory.
 3. A system as inclaim 1, wherein said actual times are based on measuring times taken byother users to travel said different sections of roadway.
 4. The systemas in claim 3, wherein said information is based on actual movements ofother users at a times near a current time.
 5. A system as in claim 3,wherein said movements are based on statistical movement of other usersbased on statistical analysis.
 6. A system as in claim 3, wherein saidactual data is obtained from satellite information.
 7. A system as inclaim 1, further comprising a remote first unit, which is separate from,but communicable with, said processor, and which allows first, enteringa destination into the first unit, after said entering said destination,wirelessly transferring information from said first unit to a secondunit that includes said processor, and navigating using said second unitbased on information from said first unit.
 8. A method, comprising:storing map information; storing information indicative of updatedactual times that were previously measured to travel different sectionsof roadway as of a current time and based on an update of said updatedactual times; entering a destination for navigation; and computing apath to said destination based on said actual times stored in saidmemory.
 9. A method as in claim 8, wherein said information includesactual times that are based on measuring travel times for said sectionsof roadway by of other users.
 10. The method as in claim 8, furthercomprising obtaining said information by monitoring actual movements ofother users at times close to a current time.
 11. A method as in claim8, further comprising obtaining said actual data from satelliteinformation.
 12. A method as in claim 8, wherein said entering adestination comprises entering the destination into a remote first unit,which is separate from, but communicable with, a second unit thatcarries out said computing, and after said entering said destination,wirelessly transferring information from said first unit to said secondunit and navigating using said second unit based on information fromsaid first unit.
 13. A method as in claim 8, further comprisingproducing a special display when the navigation system has not obtainedenough information to determine its current position.
 14. A method,comprising: obtaining current information about travel conditions in anarea, said information including current information about multipledifferent travel routes; determining a route between a starting area andan ending area using said current information about multiple travelroute, thereby mapping based on actual travel route conditions, whereinsaid mapping determines a fastest time between said starting area andsaid ending area, based on actual times that other users have taken togo between points on routes.
 15. A method as in claim 14, furthercomprising updating said actual time to obtain real time data.
 16. Amethod, comprising: first, entering a destination into a first unit;after said entering said destination, transferring information from saidfirst unit to a second unit that is capable of navigation operations;and navigating using said second unit based on information from saidfirst unit; wherein said first unit and said second unit are completelyseparate units which communicate wirelessly with one another.
 17. Amethod as in claim 16, wherein said wireless connection is an infraredconnection.
 18. A method as in claim 16, wherein said first unit is aPDA, and said second unit is a GPS navigator.
 19. A method, comprising:using a navigation system which wirelessly obtains informationindicative of its position; and producing a special display when thesystem has not obtained enough information to determine its currentposition.
 20. A device as in claim 19 wherein said producing comprisesproducing a first color to indicate confidence in said information, anda color to indicate lack of confidence in said information.